Friday, January 16, 2015

Another
Shoe:At
the same time the
Swiss National Bank set
the
franc free
to
appreciate
against the
euro it
announced it would push the negative interest rate
on deposit balances to -0.75%. A bunch of hedge funds lost a bunch of
money, Swiss stocks lost about $100 billion in the blink of an eye,
Swiss exports will cost more and the Swiss economy will dip towards
recession, but the real import of the moves is that a solem
promise made and
reiterated by
an important central bank has been broken. Goldman Sachs, putting
lipstick on the pig, opined that this would assure that “the
ECB is going to do QE, and it’s going to be big...”
trying to quiet the market so they can rig things so they profit no
matter
what. As usual.But
it is a very interconnected world, so speculate
carefully.

Power
of the Purse:
House Republicans have 'defunded' the executive actions Obama
ordered to shield certain categories of illegal immigrants from
deportation. Expect more of this, for the Republicans remember that
bit from grade school where we were told that the House controls the government's
purse strings and know that no matter how popular a President or a
Presidential program is, those who control the House Budget Committee
and the House Ways and Means Committee actually run the country.
Which is why Paul
Ryan has absolutely no interest in being President.

Occam's
Razor:
If unemployment has really fallen as much as the BLS keeps
insisting, why are wages still stuck? Easy – the real unemployment
rate is much higher than claimed by the government, much of it hidden
by the record low 'labor force participation rate'. This isn't
rocket science, folks. Sole
Searching:
The CIA has investigated the CIA's illegal searching of computers
used by the Senate Intelligence Committee and found that no one at
the CIA had done anything wrong. Ever.

Fact
Checking:
House Republicans, with a little help from 28 so-called Democrats,
have passed a bill to get the Keystone XL pipeline underway, bragging
about job creation and energy independence. Which would be fine if
the project would employ more than 3,900
for a year and fewer than 40 permanently (except for the
emergency clean-up crews that will be needed), and if Alberta's
Heavy West Canadian crude wasn't destined for shipment overseas after
being refined along the Gulf Coast. If prices don't rise above the
current sub-$50 level it
will be moot anyway. Broadbanded:
The fastest broadband services in the US are some of the cheapest,
too. Check out Chattanooga, and Lafayette – where the government
operates the system, not AT&T, Comcast or Verizon. So why isn't
your town looking out for you? Why doesn't the federal government
help
fund local broadband expansion and make super-fast internet
available to all as a basic right. Like healthcare. Damn,
Damn, Damn:After
rising inexorably for decades, suddenly the number of Americans who
are encountering financial ruin because of medical bills has started
to decline. And fewer Americans are avoiding visits to their doctors
because of the cost. Credit Obamacare; quickly, before the
Republicans gut it.

Wrong:Pope
Francis is
mistaken when he says one cannot make fun of the various religions.
One most certainly can, quite easily. If
we can poke fun at the flat earthers, snake handlers, Minnesota
Unitarians, Republicans and free marketeers, we can poke fun at other
human foibles like organized religion.Freedom
of speech is freedom of speech right up to yelling 'Fire!' in a
crowded theater. Short of that, it becomes a matter of judgment and
discretion,
not law.

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.